Virginia Tech’s Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics has launched a new research partnership with Allocore, a leading provider of digital infrastructure for government loan and grant programs. The collaboration aims to apply cutting-edge AI tools to streamline and enhance the delivery of federal loan programs, ensuring greater speed, accuracy, and accessibility for both agencies and borrowers.

Under this six-month initiative, researchers at the Sanghani Center will apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze the structure, policies, and digital systems behind a wide array of federal lending programs. By identifying similarities and differences across loan types, eligibility criteria, interest rates, terms, and software infrastructure, the project aims to improve both agency oversight and borrower access. Allowing federal agencies to manage their lending portfolios more efficiently and borrowers to identify eligible programs quickly. 

“We are using AI to identify common patterns and meaningful distinctions among federal loan programs,” said Naren Ramakrishnan, the Thomas L. Phillips Professor of Engineering and director of the Sanghani Center. “Our goal is to support smarter public finance systems by making program design more transparent and improve the user experience.”

This partnership highlights Virginia Tech’s ongoing commitment to translating advanced research into real-world solutions that strengthen public institutions and improve outcomes for communities nationwide.

“Because federal lending is a critical lever for economic mobility and public investment, it’s essential that these funds reach the right people quickly and securely,” said Bill Webner, CEO of Allocore. “By collaborating with the Sanghani Center, we’re ensuring our platform continues to deliver on that mission with greater intelligence and impact.”

The Sanghani Center research team includes Ramakrishnan, Brian Mayer, research scientist, and Nathan Self, research associate. The team will draw on data from key federal resources, including the Federal Credit Supplement and more than 2,000 pages from the Federal Budget Appendix, to build domain-specific embeddings and knowledge graphs. These advanced tools will form the foundation of new data pipelines to support real-time user interaction and program analysis.

"Having access to all these data will help us build domain-specific embeddings and knowledge graphs to form the foundation of new data pipelines that support real-time user interaction and program analysis," said Mayer, who has created similar pipelines for other sponsors.

About Allocore: Allocore powers leading government loans, grants, and fraud prevention programs with a unified platform built for efficiency and security. With trillions in loans and grants processed and billions in fraud prevented, Allocore brings the precision of commercial banking technology to the public sector. For more information, visit www.allocore.com and follow at linkedin.com/company/allocore.